Week one is in da BANK

Pretty short run today, so I tried to focus on pace.... and WOO!! Under 9 minute miles! I'm quite pleased. I especially pushed it for the last mile and I think was in the 7's for a bit even. Man this is depressing when I think about my high school XC times, but hey, I'm on my way back man! I decided to switch things around a bit so I have a rest day tomorrow and my dreaded 12 mile long run on Monday so I can go on the coastal trail in Anchorage and not have to worry about running in circles. Plus it'll be a good thing to keep me busy while all my friends are at work! Alrighty, well I'm gonna make it a short one for tonight. Super tired and full of fish/moose tacos. Yaay me for week one completed!!

Time: 35'12"

Pace: 8:46 min/mi

Distance: 4.01 mi

Living in Fear of Sunday

Ughhhhh....I am so full from dinner!! Note: running is not an excuse to eat copious amounts of rhubarb pie a la mode! OK anyway, today I nearly skipped my run. One of those "get your running clothes on and suddenly you feel ready for a nap" days. Also, it was up in the air on my schedule whether I had to run at all, so I was gonna take the easy option...BUT I stuck it out and ran 6 miles. I'm starting to feel pretty great for the first 3 miles or so. I bet my 5K time is improving a lot. At one point I was doing 8 min/mi pace and it didnt even feel that strenuous! Tomorrow I'm down for 4 miles, so maybe I'll be able to pick up the pace a bit. I was bummed to see that I didnt actually get a very fast overall pace for today's run. I think I slowed down a lot in the end. I estimated the distance badly and got back home when I still had about 3/4 of a mile left, so I had to bob and weave around the little side streets for a while which was annoying. So thats my excuse : )

So today's near exploitation of the shakiness of my schedule prompted me to sit down and nail down how much i'm going to run and when between now and November 1st. I'll tack that on to the bottom of this posting FYI. I've got 12 miles planned for Sunday morning. AAH!! Wondering if maybe I should do it in the morning or wait till the afternoon when I'll be in Anchorage and wont have to worry about running out of road. I just don't want the afternoon to come along and get distracted or lazy. Hmmmmm...

Time: 56'17"

Pace: 9:20 min/mi

Distance: 6.03 mi

Today I Earned 100 Grand

OK, I didn't earn $100,000 for Covenant House, but I DID have a really great 8 mile run and rewarded myself with a 100 Grand candy bar!! (har har I'm so clever) After yesterday's break I was really excited to get out there again today. Still super rainy, but its funny I still get so hot even in this cool weather! So I suppose its a blessing.

Today I ran out to the airport and then out to the dump, back through town and out to the outside beach and back. I think every single run I go on ends up at the Outside Beach at some point. Its always my turnaround point and the views of the ocean and the cliffs are always so rewarding!

I felt a little queasy again today around the 2 mile mark, but nothing even close to making me have to stop for a breather like last time. I wonder what that's all about though. I'm also trying to massage my left foot a bit. I had some Plantar Fasciitis last spring and summer and am a little wary of it flaring up again with all these miles i've been piling on. But, so far so good! I'm so lucky with all of the sports I've done never to have had any serious injuries!

So I looked up my half marathon time from last year's Skunk Cabbage race in Ithaca (brilliant name, I know) and it was 1:52'41" - a pace of about 8'38" min/mile. I'm pretty sure I was in a lot better shape then, cuz lately I've been averaging over 9 minutes. Though considering that I've been going at a pretty comfortable pace (not really pushing myself so hard as I would in a race) and the fact that I have almost a month left to train, I MIGHT still be able to beat that old time! It's always pleasantly surprising how much faster one can go when in a race! I'm going to have to focus on speed for some of my shorter runs...but ideally, I'd say I'd like to run the Skinny Raven half (August 18th!) in under 1:50. Under 1:45 if I'm really ambitious. I think the course is supposed to be pretty flat, so it should be do-able. Skunk Cabbage had a few narsty hills.

ANYWAY I'll cut all this boring stats talk short. Really, I'm using this blog as more of a running journal, so sorry if it gets a little boring. Maybe one of these days I'll run by a bear and really have something interesting to write about rather than stomach panes and minutes per mile!! Tomorrow is supposed to be another rest day, but I'm thinking I might squeeze in 4 miles to catch up on my scheduled mileage for this week. We'll see how I'm feeling...

Time: 1:19'20"

Pace 9:18 min/mi

Distance: 8.52 mi

Refreshing Rainy Rambles

MAN....so today was my first long run. I'm doing this week a little out of order on my schedule, since this whole crazy idea started after the beginning of the week. Long runs are really supposed to be on Sundays. Anyway, I finished 10 miles!! I dont think I've ran that far in over a year! So it was super invigorating (well, now it is....during, not so much). Even before I hit 2 miles though I had to stop and walk off some cramps. That had me worried! But after that they went away and I was fine the rest of the way. Had a good bit of hills in there though, since I had to go out the road towards Jakalof Bay in order to avoid going in circles around town.

I've been reluctant to get out there since its been raining day and night lately, but the rain was actually really refreshing! And nothing makes you feel like more of a badass when you're out there in the rain in just a t-shirt running like it ain't no thang by people all bundled up in rain gear and huddled under umbrellas!

Anyway, tomorrow is a rest day and then 8 miles on Thursday. If you want to check out my training schedule (though like I said, this first week is a little jumbled) here's the link:

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html

Time: 1:33'52"

Pace: 9'21"/mile

Distance 10.02 miles

Mom's Spaghetti

Hooray! My first run on my schedule is in the bank. 5.5 miles from my house down Main Street, around the Inside Beach, to the Outside Beach, and back. For long runs I have to get a little creative around Seldovia. For tomorrow's 7 miler I might have to get creative, or....*gasp*... face some hills out the road!

It was 10:30 before I even started, so the twilight was beautiful, especially at the outside beach where the horizon was like a gorgeous collage of color and clouds. Very dramatic. Its also great coming back so late, when the whole slough is quiet and the sun is just barely letting out its last bit of light over the hills and I do crunches and stretch under the porch. So nice! I'm so lucky to have this beautiful setting to go running in. It will be quite different when I go back to New York in just a few weeks!

Time: 50' 50"

Pace: 9:11 min/mile

Distance 5.53 miles

Here I Go!!

OK, so I just signed up to run the ING New York City Marathon in November while raising money for Covenant House! Here is my official donation page: http://www.firstgiving.com/daquita5

Now I have to actually get serious about training, because there are only 103 days left!! I'll be running a half marathon in Anchorage on August 18th, so that will be a good evaluation. Between now and then I'll probably be running about 25-35 miles a week, but should work up to about 40 or more once things get going. I've been running on and off since middle school and have run one half marathon before, but other than that I'm learning all of this new, so any advice out there from anyone with experience would be welcomed!

I'll be making up a training schedule soon, and will post that here, as well as comments on particularly gratifying or agonizing runs! WOO!! I'm so excited.

OK, well, I gotta get out there for my 5.5 miles I have scheduled for today before it gets dark!

WISH ME LUCK!!